Chapter 74: Kiss Me


    Trantor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio


    Now that he was drunk, Lu An found it even harder to suppress his primal urges, especially the longing to kiss Jin Nian. He leaned toward her but stopped. Instead, he ttened Jin Nian’s bangs and said. “Jin Nian,” he began almost casually, interspaced by the asional hup, “I’ll always want you, even if no one else does. I’ll always treat you well; you know that, don’t you?”


    Jin Nian rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’te crawling to you, even if no one wants to be with me. You’re annoying, Lu An.” She hated how Lu An seemed to treat rtionships like a joke. Who could have known she would end up marrying him in the future?


    Jin Nian still had some reservations, so she deliberately kept a distance from Lu An. However, judging from their reactions earlier, Teacher Tan and Old Jin should know they were together. There probably was not any real need for her to pretend otherwise. Besides, they were legally married.


    Although Jin Nian had trouble epting this fact, she knew she had to adapt, even if it meant taking things slow. He wouldn’t divorce her, would he?


    If the situation devolved to that extent, Teacher Tan would probably kill her.


    Having juste out of a terrible rtionship, Jin Nian was in no mood to explore the profundities of love.


    It was a good thing she feltfortable around Lu An. Jin Nian found she did not need to spend too much energy worrying about their rtionship, likely due to how easygoing it was. Now that she thought about it, talcing a walk together was not so bad.


    As for whether she loved him, Jin Nian left that question forter; she did not want to make things difficult for herself, having spent six years on a fruitless endeavor.


    The car was parked beside a big tree by the roadside. Jin Nian lived in the Old Urban District. As they drew closer, she could make out a few finer details. It was a parasol tree with a trunk thick and strong. It was certainly older than she was. One by one, streemps flickered to life, their warm light creating mottled shadows of the shifting leaves on the ground. It was beautiful.


    When she was still in school, Jin Nian would often bump into couples on dates, enjoying the shade of the trees. She would cover her face in mortification whenever that happened, fleeing before she could interpose in a private moment.


    No matter what she tried, Jin Nian could not start the car and eventually gave up. She eyed Lu An’s innocent form while drunk and giggled. Seeing him so rxed, free from life’s concerns, was rare.


    While he appeared cold and aloof, he was actually a big softie on the inside. Teacher Tan once said Lu An was far more sensitive and discerning than she was.


    Having received recognition of their rtionship from Jin Nian’s parents, Lu An indulged himself, drinking one too many sses of wine. Ordinarily, Lu An would not have gotten drunk. But he had snuck a few extra sses with Old Jin when he thought no one was paying attention. Tabaco and alcohol were the two things he could not live without – an unfortunate remnant of his time abroad.


    Perhaps he felt the car was a little stuffy, so Lu An rolled down the window, letting his head rest against the hand he propped on the door. Leaning back, he stared into Jin Nian’s eyes and pouted, shamelessly requesting, “Kiss me.”


    Jin Nian rolled her eyes and rebuked him. Her outburst did not anger Lu An, and he said, “You scold and scold. Is that all you know how to do? Why don’t you kiss me instead?” When he said that, he did not look drunk at all. It would have been more urate to describe him as the definition of a textbook viin just moments before he sprung his trap.


    Jin Nian was rendered speechless. She tried topromise, giving Lu An a quick peck on the cheek; however, it was not enough for Lu An. He grabbed her wrist, nting kisses along her arm as he softly coaxed, “Be good. Sit here.” “Noway!”


    Jin Nian tried to refuse, citing how spacious the car was – in fact, it was twice the size of her car – but failed. Lu An dragged Jin Nian out of the driver’s seat and onto herp.


    She could feel his cool, minty breath mixed with the sweet scent of mangoes. They kissed. It was not anything more than that. Lu An had no wish to do anything untoward to Jin Nian outside.


    “S-stop…” Jin Nian arched backward. She was scared he would take things too far, so she buried her face in the crook of his neck to stop him from nting more kisses. Her traitorous body shed with heat, an ufortable numbness causing her to go limp.


    Jin Nian felt a pair of scorching hands roam down her skirt and to her thighs. It was like an itch, one she could not reach, driving her insane! Jin Nian felt like countless ants crawled on her skin, burrowing into her bones.


    Lu An stopped. That was as far as he would go. He nned on releasing Jin Nian, who trembled like a startled rabbit in his arms, but not before he could breathe in her delicious scent.


    A sweet smell permeated his senses, one much more mellow than his. Lu An inhaled deeply, thest vestiges of his drunken haze dissipating with Jin Nian’s scent. He was half awake by this point, but his breath still carried the stench of alcohol..